Ask HN: What is the best drone for hackers?

This is a hard question to answer without knowing what types of problems your hacker friends like to solve. For example, quadcopters tend to cater to certain types of problems (mapping, precise control, etc), while fixed-wing aircraft tend to cater to a different group (autopilots, longer-distance flights, etc).

The DIY.

Or build an AeroQuad: http://aeroquad.com/content.php?s=9af9c997f8aed9a3ad958e32bf...

Ok, a little more input.

Both are android users and prefer open-source hardware and software. The Parrot AR 2.0 looked good at first, but I'm unsure as to the level of community support for the android software.

They are also very skilled at low level programming, so some of the newer Linux based drones are appealing.

I'd say, for a hardware hacker, one they build themselves. I'm building one right now, have ordered all the parts for relatively cheap and it will be a lot more powerful than a Parrot Drone and gives me more freedom with what I want it to do.

Arducoptor & Ardupilot are the way to go!

Forget amazon, that's not a place for hackers...

But beware of the hidden costs in Radio-Controlled flight - it's never a cheap date...

The AR Drone is the cheap, hackable way to do it. It's just a tiny PC running Linux hooked up to four weak motors. You can control it via wifi, or replace the flight software yourself if you are enterprising. Add their new GPS add-on, and you can use the excellent QGroundControl. There are excellent projects putting it to use for a variety of tasks.

Unfortunately it will be limited in its power, unless you do an extensive engine and frame mod as shown here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KESy--N6ags

The 3DRobotics Iris is an exciting new product that represents a more flexible, pro-amateur level tool. They're made to be put to work, not flown like a remote controlled helicopter, so you'll find good support for programmability here.

On the other hand, it's almost $1k fully built out, compared to half that for the Parrot.

The DJI Phantom & DJI Phantom 2 vision are both awesome. The Phantom 1 is probably better if you want to put your own board in the air, as it has more payload space. But out of the box the Phantom 2 is unbelievable with its iPhone FPV & telemetry integration

If you have lots of time on your hands, though, you could build your own with ardupilot: http://ardupilot.com

try to build your own and i mean your own even your own flight controller from scratch / use Arduino for flight control / use ecalc.ch site for your combination / hobbyking may have everything you want but they suck at shipment / try something different if you want it to be named hacker's drone ;)

It depends what they want to hack. Since you're saying "drone" I'm assuming you want them to be autonomous in some way, and not just traditional RC.

When I was working on Tacocopter, we used 8-CineStars from Quadrocopter[1]. They were originally designed to fly pro cameras, so they have an incredible payload, great flight characteristics, all carbon fibre, etc. Downside is they're very expensive.

Most of our development was in the software, so we wanted a hardware solution that "just worked" Dealing with DIY motor controllers that can burn out really slows down the process. Aside, if you end up using the MicroKopter platform, I reverse engineered a lot of their serial protocol for our telemetry stack-- check it out on Github[2].

The cool thing to me about MAVs is they essentially become a flying computer. For your friends, I would pick the one that has enough power for decent acrobatics+payloads, but more importantly the easiest software development stack. Stuff from 3DRobotics is a good starting place.

[1] http://www.quadrocopter.com/

[2] https://github.com/grinich/mikrokopter

[3] http://3drobotics.com/

Crazyflie from http://www.bitcraze.se/ is pretty cool. I own one myself, and I like it a lot. This is a tiny fully opensource quad which can be flown indoors. Obviously, because of it's tiny size it doesn't fly for too long and don't lift much.

What do you think of the 3DRobotics Iris?

Have they ever flown a quadcopter before? If not, I strongly suggest they start with something cheap like the Syma X1 ($35 on Amazon). It's an amazing value, and incredibly fun to fly. Very forgiving, and mildly hackable.

The biggest benefit is that it lets you build your piloting chops without a huge financial risk. An acquaintance of mine is working to get drones into the hands of professionals who aren't interested in becoming drone experts (Realtors, etc), and he uses the Syma X1 to train folks before giving them the keys to larger, more dangerous and expensive drones.

Stop calling them "Drones".

It really depends on the application. If you're talking about flight, and autonomous-flight at that, keep in mind that airspace is highly regulated. (In the US) The FAA requires RC pilots to be licensed (inexpensive and no test, but still necessary) and RC flight must always be in line-of-sight -- usually in very specific, designated areas. It's quite easy enough to build an autonomous bird, with programmable way-points and such, which breaks all sorts of laws. Start with the AMA: http://www.modelaircraft.org/

There's a lot of specific distinctions between piloted-flight versus autonomous ('drone') as well as size restrictions and such. First-person view (FPV) requires a second pilot using grounded line-of-sight, as well (http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/550.pdf).

I'm by no means trying to discourage you, just know if something might be a federal offense!

The best drone for hackers is the one they build themselves. There is absolutely no point in buying a factory drone - you can make them yourselves easily enough, and without much fuss - in fact RC drones is one of the longest-running subjects that has attracted hackers over the years. If you want innovation, learning, experimentation - check out the "DIY Foamies" section on http://rcgroups.com/ forums .. there are literally thousands of drone designs in there that the budding hacker can enjoy, learn from, and exploit for their needs.

So please, stay away from the factory drones, folks.